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Appeared on: Saturday, July 20, 2013
Apple and Samsung Reportedly Held Talks To Settle Patent Fight

Apple and Samsung have been suing each other for years over smartphone patents. A report claims that the companies have held talks this year in an attempt to reach a settlement.

The discussions were disclosed in documents recently released by the U.S. International Trade Commission as part of a ruling it made granting a ban on Apple products, as had been requested by Samsung.

According to a Friday article on the Wall Street Journal, the documents revealed that Apple made a settlement offer last September. That was shortly after a U.S. jury ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion for violating Apple's patents. It appears that talks gained momentum from December through March but so far, no agreement has been reached, the Journal reported.

While Samsung is one of Apple's biggest suppliers of components for its smartphones, the two companies have become bitter rivals in recent years.

Apple took Samsung to court in California in 2011, alleging that Samsung copycatted iPhones and iPads. The jury?s verdict was that Samsung should pay $1billion. The presiding judge cut this by half.

The two companies are also engaged in legal battles in the United States, Germany, France, Japan and Italy.

Samsung is said to be trying to iron out differences over key issues ahead of a new trial in the U.S. federal circuit slated for November.

Samsung has settled two patent disputes lately.

The company recently entered a comprehensive cross-licensing deal with SK hynix or the next five years. Under the agreement, the two firms will have full access to each other's patents. In a similar move, Samsung also ended the disputes with Rambus by paying $900 million in return for using the chip designer?s patents.